By N. E. Shaw
Andros had taken out the gate guards with no trouble at all. In fact, he felt a little guilty for getting so rough with them--the two of them were only his age or younger, and had only their guns for protection, which they had been too afraid to use.
Nevertheless, he couldn't afford to worry about them now. He was running through a cluster of buildings that surrounded a huge grey bubble dome. It was the kind of building that could be set up and inflated for temporary use. Just a little more luck would allow him to get inside and find Ashley before anyone knew he was here. Still dressed in civilian clothes, he avoided the icy patches on the concrete and tried not to think about the cold.
The dome's entrance was a revolving glass door. He sprinted towards it as soon as it came into view, but suddenly, it began to turn, and a disorganized-looking bunch of Quantrons poured out. There were a dozen of them, with their heads on crooked, armor dinged and dirty, and Q-Blades held awkwardly in their hands. Andros had to stop and stare. It was the oddest sight he had ever seen. It reminded him of the time he and Zhane snuck aboard the Dark Fortress, and dressed up like Quantrons for disguise.
"Unbelievable..." Andros sighed. These weren't Quantrons. They were humans in costume. They didn't look like they knew how to fight either, or even wanted to. They just stood there, trying to look threatening, but only succeeding in scaring themselves. Andros put his hands on his hips. "So are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"
They looked at each other, shivering. One of them took it as a cue to attack, coming at Andros with his Q-blade held high for a killing strike, and got a quick kick in the gut for his efforts. He was out for the count. A few others tried to attack, thinking they could outdo the last guy, but Andros stayed sharp and hurt them all some way or another. He didn't go all out on them though--these Quantrons could be subdued much more gently than regular ones.
When he was done, he checked to see that they were all properly discouraged, and picked one up by the chestplate to question it. He popped the helmet off and saw a scared teenager underneath.
"Where's the girl you're holding here?"
"I dunno what you're talking about man--!"
"Don't give me that! Do you wanna know what I'd do to you if you were a real robot?"
The kid paled, and reluctantly pointed to the dome. "She's in there, in the room on the fake hill."
"That's better. Now why don't you go call the police on me?"
Andros dropped him and turned towards the entrance...then the sound of lazer fire reached his ears. Fear for Ashley surged in his mind, and he slammed through the revolving door into the warm, smelly bubble.
Once inside, his path was blocked by huge panels of grey glass standing in a circle around the main floor of the dome. The only way he could see over them was by climbing a metal staircase at his left. There was a catwalk up there, with ropes and lights and rigging attached to it. He took the stairs three at a time until his view spilled out over the wall, and he saw the great artificial island standing in the center of the arena-sized dome. Water surrounded it. The grey room the Quantron spoke about was perched on top, with tiny buildings sprinkled all around.
Suddenly though, his eyes spotted movement. Someone was climbing out of the room, through a broken glass window. This man was dressed from head to toe in black and silver, with a mask over his face, and in his hand was a blaster. As he stormed down the island slope, he tore the mask from his face angrily, and revealed a young, infuriated face, with a snarling mouth and insane blue eyes.
"Hey you!" Andros called. The man stopped dead in his tracks. "Where's Ashley? Don't play games with me either, I've had a long day."
His surprise apparent, the angry man paused for a moment, then aimed his gun at Andros. A deadly lazer blast screamed toward the catwalk. There was only one quick option for getting out of the way--Andros jumped into the water.
He hit the surface with a chilly, painful splash!, freezing water and bubbles surrounded him for a moment. The cold tore the breath from his lungs, and he hit bottom a little harder than he wanted; but when he forced his eyes open, he could see the gunman standing at the water's edge, waiting for him to surface. Recoiling with his legs, he launched himself upward, tackling the surprised gunman from below and sending them both sprawling.
Now the two began a grappling match, vying for a submission hold and control of the gun. Just when Andros thought he had the guy beat, the gun came out and fired straight upward, knocking them apart, dazed and reeling.
They eventually got to their feet again, Andros using a lightning-fast kick to knock the gun into the water. Now the odds were back on his side. Unfortunately, his own stunned brain was not. The gunman moved too quickly, diving forward and tackling him around the middle. He felt the wind knocked out of him as they tumbled backward together, and then the water closed over his face again. This time, he wasn't allowed to come up.
The blue-eyed man held him in a bear-hug from behind, keeping his face below the surface. He kicked and fought and struggled, but underwater he could get no leverage. He couldn't even get his legs under him to throw the guy off. Bit by bit the air leaked from his lungs, and the pressure built till he was ready to burst. His vision began to fade and the strength left his body as he succumbed to his oxygen-starved fate...
Then suddenly, something struck the gunman from behind, and Andros was released. He used his last ounce of strength to bob to the surface while a few violent splashes came from behind. Then they died down, and the only sound was Andros sucking deep gulps of air.
He bobbed there with his chin in the water, until hands grasped his shoulders and turned him around. He was able to look up and see the face of his savior.
"My hero," she said with a smile.
Police cars and ambulances filled the lot a half hour later. The sun was rising, warming the air a little bit. Red and blue flashes were cast about on the icy pavement. One by one, every single Quantron had been rounded up and "The Corruptor" was regaining consciousness in the back of a police car. Slowly but surely, things were being sorted out. Meanwhile, Andros had escaped questioning to find the ambulance where his friend would be. Now they sat together, wrapped in blankets on the tailgate.
"How did he pull it off?" Andros wanted to know. "It was good enough to fool me into wandering all over the galaxy looking for a new supervillain."
Ashley took a deep breath to explain. "He's always been a resourceful kind of guy. His first-year film won awards at three student film festivals. He's been working on this latest project for months, a 'Sci-Fi Epic', but he kept it all under wraps. Nobody knew a thing, which was the way it had to be to pull off a crime at the same time."
But Andros was not satisfied. "Ashley, the Quantron armor. The piece of the joint I found. The stun-gun. How could he have gotten all these things?" Clearly she hadn't come up with an answer for that yet. "Maybe..." she said. "Maybe you were right to suspect a new evil. Maybe Zordon's purge wasn't absolute after all."
The weight of this theory registered on his face. It agonized them to believe Zordon's sacrifice hadn't been all it was meant to be, despite the obvious good it had done.
Ashley's spine still ached from being shot. Both their throats hurt from the lungfulls of water. All they wanted to do now was forget the troubles of the past few weeks, so Andros patted down her fluffy, short hair as it dried in the cold.
"You cut it," he marveled. She smiled, noticing his approval.
"I needed a new look," she explained. "I was making a lot of changes when I left Angel Grove."
His face clouded with thought for a moment, then he reached inside his blanket to pull out a soggy envelope. "I got your letter..." he said, studying it carefully. "I don't know how you managed it, but it got to me."
Ashley seemed mesmerized. "Can I see?" He handed it to her.
She stared at it quietly for a moment, sending herself back in time to the day she sealed her message inside, printing Andros's name on the front but not knowing what address to put under it. The ink had leaked everywhere now, blurring into an unrecognizable smudge. No doubt the words inside were ruined too, but they had done their work. They had been written with the intent to call Andros back, and that is what they did.
Andros gazed longingly at her until she flung the envelope away. It landed in a puddle and sank. "I don't need it anymore. It did what it was supposed to do."
Andros began to nod. "It brought me to you."
She smiled her old smile. "Exactly."
He took a deep breath and stared at the Police Car where Rob sat in handcuffs in the backseat. "I'm sorry for what happened between you two. I know you loved him."
She followed Andros's gaze to the car. "Who told you I loved him?"
"Your friend Dawn. You and I didn't really let go when we said goodbye, so when I got your letter I figured you were trying to break things off once and for all....but I came anyway to see for myself. I'm glad it let me save you but I didn't mean to interfere--"
She was smiling and blushing as she listened, and finally cut him off with a finger to his lips. "Andros, Dawn made me go out with him," she laughed. "I was gloomy as hell trying to get over you, so she tried to cheer me up with one blind date. It was a disaster."
He blinked while a few pieces of this story were rewritten in his mind. "He isn't your boyfriend?"
She shook her head. "Only in Dawn's mind. Have you found another girl yet?"
"No, of course not."
Her stare was the one he had been waiting to see all this time--the one that told him how badly he was still wanted.
Under the distracted gaze of the paramedics and Quantrons, they slid into each other's arms and kissed deeply, desperately; the way lost-lovers should. Then Andros tucked his face in her cheek, and whispered an idea which made her blink rapidly in surprise.
"What about school?" she whispered back.
"I could wait three more years," he answered. "If I had to."
"Well...what about my family, everything? Andros this is huge..."
He gave her a reassuring squeeze. "I've always wanted this, and you could do so much more good this way. You just have to decide if its worth giving up what you might have here."
Her face went into turmoil for a moment, then she squeezed a little tighter. "Stay with me in New York for awhile, and I'll think about it, ok?"
"As long as it takes..." he promised.
One month later, a ship touched down on the sturdy new skyport outside Andros and Karone's family home. The worst of the hot weather was over now, and late summer rains had softened and greened the grass on the lawns. Zhane and Karone got up from their shady tree in the backyard, and ventured out onto the porch to see if another delivery had arrived. Instead, a familar young woman hopped out onto the landing deck and began to descend the stairs.
"Ashley!" cried Karone, bounding across the front lawn. She pounced on her old friend, nearly knocking her over, and the two girls bounced with the excitement of the arrival. Meanwhile Zhane caught up and wrapped his arms around both of them for good measure. "I can't believe you're here!" Karone sang.
"I can't believe it either!" Ashley replied. "This place is so beautiful!"
Zhane's face glowed with humor. "It takes a place like this to grow a couple of beauties like these two." He put one arm around Karone and nodded to Andros coming down the stairs. Andros punched him good-naturedly in the shoulder, then hugged his sister gratefully.
"So the quest was worth it?" she whispered in his ear.
"More than you know," he said.
Together they led Ashley up the walk between rows of budding bushes to the porch, where planters overflowed with bloom. Inside, Andros found himself speechless at what he saw.
All the makeshift furniture was gone, replaced by some of the most beautiful antiques he had ever seen. Rich mahogany tables, tall wood-and-glass cabinets filled with gleaming china, lush rugs of all different colors--all the kinds of things his parents had owned years ago. There was even a crystal chandelier hanging over the polished diningroom table, which now sat before the rear windows draped in a lace tablecloth.
"Zhane, is that..?"
"Your Grandma's chandelier. It was buried in the backyard with just a few beads missing."
"Does it work?"
"Hell yes."
Andros shook his head in awe. The sparkle of that lamp was one of the most comforting of all his childhood memories. He really had come home.
Zhane and Karone led them around the house some more, showing them the old treasures they had uncovered, and the new ones they had found. Two of the four bedrooms were finished as well, with carven oak bedsteads like the ones they used to own. The house was bursting with beautiful things to see.
"There's lots left to do though," Zhane warned, as they paused in the kitchen. "That vegetable garden is still a disaster."
"There's a vegetable garden?" Ashley beamed. "Can I plant chives somewhere?"
He and Karone blinked. "Are you gonna be around to take care of them?"
"Yes, what do you think I'm doing here? Andros asked me to stay and help get KO-35 back on its feet."
The room fell silent a moment, then filled up with delighted laughter and the welcoming hugs were renewed. "Hey, way to go, Andros..." Zhane joked, but his friend wasn't really listening. He was staring out into the front room, thinking about how good it would be when he found his parents again. He had such wonderful gifts to show them.